Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Concert

For some reason that I cannot say, I have not been to many concerts or followed any particular kind of music. It isn't that I don't like music; I very much enjoy singing in the choir and have an intuitive understanding of how music is supposed to work in some respects, although I cannot seem to learn to read music. I like listening to music sometimes also, but not for any extended period of time. Last night we went to UCI's senior recital concert. I think the tickets were being given out free, and the house was full. Before the concert began, the conductor led a discussion... or, I should say, treated us to a musically-themed monologue about how he put the concert together. Being so ignorant that I didn't even know where to start in asking questions, I simply sat back and listened. This guy was a natural teacher. His students probably are continually amazed by the constant stream of interesting stuff, funny and irreverent, that comes out of his mouth. He is from Jamaica, but it must have been a long time since he came over because he had no discernible accent whatsoever. He discussed everything from his talking cat, who, he insists, calls him "Man" because that's all she knows how to say, to his favorite musician (Brahms), and why he likes him so much. Once the musicians came onto the stage, I was interested to note the etiquette, the cacaphony of tuning up that preceded the music, the amazing dexterity of all the musicians, whose two hands knew exactly what to do, although they were called upon to work in opposing ways. I recognized a number of these students from the Writing Center at IVC, where many of them have passed through, having apparently taken writing classes at the college at one time or another. I confess that I did doze off a couple of times, but I would like to go back to some more concerts again soon.

About Me

It feels odd to tell people, when they ask you what you do, that you are a poet. It is of course not a proper profession, if by "proper" one means a job that brings in money.
It is most certainly an occupation though. Reading, writing, going to poetry events make up a sizable percentage of my life.